As Sir Rod Stewart prepares to play Glasto, the veteran rocker says the country is 'fed up' with Labour and the Tories and should 'give Nigel Farage a chance'
He didn't quite say he'd found a Reason To Believe in Nigel Farage. But when Sir Rod Stewart steps on to Glastonbury 's Pyramid Stage tomorrow afternoon, fans may ponder his plea to 'give Farage a chance'.
The 80-year-old singer's teatime set comes the day after he claimed the country was 'fed up' with the Tories and that Labour was trying to ditch Brexit.
He accused Prime Minister Keir Starmer of giving Scottish fishing rights 'back to the EU', although the Government insists it has simply renewed an existing deal for European boats.
His views represent a second volte-face given that he appeared to support Labour at last year's election – despite previously backing the Conservatives.
Asked where Britain's political future now lay, he told The Times: 'It's hard for me because I'm extremely wealthy, and I deserve to be, so a lot of it doesn't really touch me.
'But that doesn't mean I'm out of touch. For instance, I've read about Starmer cutting off the fishing in Scotland and giving it back to the EU. That hasn't made him popular.
'We're fed up with the Tories. We've got to give Farage a chance. He's coming across well. What options have we got? I know some of his family, I know his brother, and I quite like him.'
Asked what Mr Farage stands for aside from Brexit, tighter immigration and controversial economic promises he replied: 'Yeah, yeah. But Starmer's all about getting us out of Brexit and I don't know how he's going to do that.
'Still, the country will survive. It could be worse. We could be in the Gaza Strip.'
Sir Rod also seemed unconvinced that Sir Keir was going to fully address one of his personal pet hates.
Three years ago, the singer donned a hi-vis jacket and rang around friends asking for help filling in potholes outside his Essex house.
'I took me Ferrari out. Nearly lost the f***ing wheel,' he said.
'And before I did in the Ferrari, I saw an ambulance that couldn't move, the wheel stuck right in there.
'So I took me mates out, and we knew what to do because I had builders in the house.
'We filled in a considerable length of the road, actually.'
He added that potholes were still present 'all over Britain' in contrast to Europe.
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The Herald Scotland
23 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
Brexit destruction - 'stupidest' and 'unhinged' fair enough
It would surely be easy to make the argument that he hit the nail on the head. After all, it is certainly not wise decision-making which is behind a move to cause major damage to your economy. Mr Bloomberg, who was visiting his eponymous company's Dublin offices exactly nine years after the UK's referendum, added of Brexit: 'It's hard to believe how they did it.' It is indeed difficult to believe, as the nightmare continues. Mr Bloomberg's comments evoked memories of what Professor Sir Anton Muscatelli, principal and vice-chancellor of the University of Glasgow, had to say about Brexit in the aftermath of the vote. Sir Anton told the Scottish Government Brexit Summit for Further and Higher Education back in November 2018: 'I've previously referred to our impending exit from the EU as 'the most unhinged example of national self-sabotage in living memory'. 'Nothing has happened in the last few weeks to change that view. Indeed, with the confusion and uncertainty we are seeing every day in Whitehall, if anything my view has only hardened.' This was before former Conservative prime minister Boris Johnson's administration took the UK out of the European single market at the end of December 2020 in a hard Brexit. This folly saw the ending of free movement of people between the country and the European Economic Area and the loss of frictionless trade with the UK's biggest trading partner. Read more So words such as 'unhinged', from Sir Anton, and 'stupidest', from Mr Bloomberg, seem perfectly measured and proportionate in the scheme of things. What is also hard to fathom, based on any economic rationale, is the Labour Government's 'red lines' of not taking the UK back into the European Union, single market, or even the customs union. That said, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Labour look to be far more focused on politics than economics when it comes to Brexit, and specifically appear terrified of upsetting those red-wall voters who swept Mr Johnson to power in December 2019. It was this general election victory which enabled the incredibly foolish hard Brexit for which we are all paying the price - Leave and Remain voters alike. My column in The Herald last Wednesday - focused on a YouGov poll which surely yielded some interesting findings for Sir Keir and Labour - observed: 'Les Britanniques 'Bregret' beaucoup.' Noting the ninth anniversary, on June 23, of the vote for Brexit, the pollster declared: 'YouGov polling has long since shown that the public are 'Bregretful' about that outcome, with our latest survey showing 56% think it was wrong for Britain to vote to leave the EU.' My column observed: 'There might still be the sounds of 'non, je ne Bregret rien' from those who voted for the folly. And some of those who led voters down the Brexit path continue to bump their gums rather noisily. 'However, the quieter majority clearly knows what is actually going on. YouGov's latest findings show, as its polls have for years now, a clear majority believes the UK was wrong to leave the EU. Only 31% now think the UK was right to leave.' Read more The YouGov poll found most people in the UK want to see the country return to the EU - 56%. This is way ahead of the 34% opposing such a move, with 10% of those polled saying they do not know. Sir Nick Harvey, chief executive of the European Movement UK campaign group, said on June 22: "Labour's 'red lines' on its relationship reset with the European Union, including no return to the single market or the EU customs union, must now be revisited and revised. The reasons why will not have escaped the Government's notice, even if it does not want to look in their direction." His observation about Sir Keir's administration not wanting to look at the reasons is an astute one. Not only is Labour sticking with its red lines but it continues to refuse to acknowledge the scale of the Brexit damage. My column last Wednesday, noting another finding of the YouGov poll, observed: 'The fact that 56% of those who voted for Labour last July consider rejoining the EU to be the right priority, right now, raises the question of why Sir Keir and his colleagues seem hell-bent on going along with the views of the minority in their policymaking. Labour has made it clear that it is absolutely intent on maintaining its 'red lines', a truly lamentable state of affairs.' Sir Nick said: "Nine years have passed since the United Kingdom voted to leave the European that time, the consequences for the British people have become increasingly stark. This latest polling not only reinforces that - it shows that more and more people see the benefits of much closer ties with the European Union - having felt the pain of Brexit. "Leaving the EU has delivered a sustained and worsening blow to the UK economy - one that is especially pronounced for the small and medium-sized enterprises that form the backbone of our commercial and industrial landscape who are living with the consequences every day. That has made us all poorer, depleted our economy and weakened our country with a thousand tiny cuts.' There is surely much food for thought in these comments, is there not Sir Keir?
The Guardian
30 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Glastonbury 2025: Sunday with Olivia Rodrigo's headline set plus the Prodigy, Rod Stewart and more
Update: Date: 2025-06-30T00:28:15.000Z Title: Woodsies', ' Content: The festival reached its final day with standout sets from Wolf Alice, Turnstile, Joy Crookes and more Ben Beaumont-Thomas (now); Shaad D'Souza and Elle Hunt (earlier) Mon 30 Jun 2025 01.04 BST First published on Sun 29 Jun 2025 12.13 BST 1.04am BST 01:04 Ben Beaumont-Thomas Alexis was rightly and totally blown away by Olivia Rodrigo, calling her set the best big one of the festival. Here's his five-star rave: That is everything for tonight, and indeed this year – thanks so much for following all of our nonsense here. Devastated to report that it's a fallow year next year, so we'll see you in 2027? Updated at 1.28am BST 11.58pm BST 23:58 Gwilym Mumford This is the Prodigy's fourth appearance at Glastonbury, but as Maxim says in a brief respite from the pummelling blast beats of Voodoo People, it should be their fifth. On the eve of their 2019 booking Keith Flint was found dead at his home in Essex. 'Six years ago we lost our brother. This is his night,' Maxim declares. Flint looms large at this year's festival – head over to Joe Rush's Carhenge and you'll see his menacing grin adorning the bonnet of an upturned muscle car. But in tonight's set he is positioned as a very visible absence: a silhouette, instantly recognisable by the two devilish points above the temples, is pinned to the giant screens by green lasers. On a reimagined Firestarter his vocals are winnowed down to a single repeated 'I'm a firestarter', Flint haunting the track rather than dominating it as he once did. And on Breathe his vocals in the chorus are omitted, with the crowd stepping in instead. Flint's absence is counterbalanced by a whole lot more Maxim, here playing the role of MC, compere and chief cajoler, shepherding crowds through the different eras of the band's 35 year career, from the saucer-eyed hardcore techno of Jilted Generation to the rocky EDM of Invaders Must Die. A word for the Other stage. It has received a glow up this year, with giant hi-def screens added, as well as a new lighting rig. It now is probably the best place to watch music at Glastonbury: every performance I've seen here has felt immersive and massive. That's particularly true for the Prodigy and their retina-singing light show, with meandering lasers and walls of glitching graphics. The spectacle seems to filter down to the audiences too, who have seemed up for it – bordering on unhinged – all weekend. There's a sprit of the bacchanal tonight. Weed fug and pyro smoke hovers above the crowd of, as Maxim calls them 'Prodigy warriors': loud, unruly, boozy (and the rest). As the crowd skanks and sways to the boinging central refrain from Out of Space, Maxim surveys the scene and declares: 'I think Mr Flint would have have been proud of you.' Updated at 1.12am BST 11.44pm BST 23:44 David Levene going full Andreas Gursky with this shot of the boomer hordes for Rod Stewart. Bravo! 11.33pm BST 23:33 Jason Okundaye WoodsiesJorja Smith is welcomed on with an orchestral flourish – rhythmic percussion and escalating strings as the visuals conjure a stage on fire. Last month, the singer began her first UK tour since 2018. Back then she was 21, and riding high off her debut album's Brit awards gong, Mercury nomination and Grammy nomination for best new artist. But she has switched down the gears towards a slower pace of life, moving from London back to her birthplace Walsall in 2023. Here, at one of the last sets of Glastonbury, she can flex how she's developed and progressed away from the flashing lights. Smith has won fans for a smoky, honeyed voice that has remained agile, elegant and restrained – though sometimes that restraint is to a fault. On the opening number, Try Me, she is drowned out by her band and, with a vocal style that is often legato, it can be hard to hear what she's saying. There is a fine line, after all, between vocal elegance and repression. Yet this issue quickly melts away, particularly when the familiar hits come out – Blue Lights and Addicted are such phenomenal tracks, sexy and subtle and bringing out gorgeous moments of vocal layering with her backing singer which provide more lyrical clarity and a fitting sense of ensemble. Her male backing singer comes out for a duet on Feelings – Smith is so adoring of him and they sound fantastic together, but it also feels like a humble and mature embrace of how introducing different, distinct vocal tones can accentuate a performance. Initially, you do wonder if this set might become dull, and how she can maintain the audience for an hour and 15 minutes of slower, mellow tones that might not be the vibe for a Sunday late-night billing. Yet Smith is adaptable. Go Go Go reaches for Afropop, while Popcaan collaboration Come Over embraces dancehall. This scope is complemented by her band who are truly fantastic – her bassist can provide mellow moments of cool R&B, but equally they can ascend into rollicking crescendos and grundy indie rock type segments. This set really reaches its peak during the more fun, funky and decidedly unrelaxed segments. She brings out AJ Tracey for both a cover of his hit Ladbroke Grove and their recent collaboration, Crush. I have to say, Tracey performs much better here than he had just two hours ago on the same stage. Perhaps this is because there is no backing track to rely on, and there is a wonderful, almost sibling-like fondness between the two artists. But it's when the basslines and syncopated rhythms of UK garage emerge that you really see Smith as a national darling, one equally capable of jumping on new sounds while resurrecting past genres with finesse; of course, funky electronic garage track Little Things, which reintroduced Smith to the world in 2023, plays that part. But there is also The Way I Love You and Preditah collaboration On My Mind, which feel more befitting of the dark Woodsies stage and the late-night billing. You could imagine it going off at Glastonbury's various nightlife venues; hopefully I'll hear some of this set, the pitch faders mixing up the arrangement at Block9 later. Updated at 11.45pm BST 11.15pm BST 23:15 Safi Bugel At one point, the Maccabees had a generation of people in a chokehold. The London indie band were so prolific they can't even remember exactly how many times they've played at Glastonbury before. But after 14 years and four albums, they announced their hiatus in 2016, with a farewell tour the following year. Back in October, they teased their comeback; tonight's show is one of their first public performances in eight years. It's a high-energy, emotion-heavy experience on both sides of the barrier as they shuttle back through time via all of their best hits. At one point, the band acknowledge that they – and likely most of tonight's audience – are now a decade older, so they ask them to jump along, but only if they want to. Of course, they do. The boisterous excitement from the crowd of thirtysomethings doesn't waver, through the urgent, full-bodied end of their discography (Latchmere, X-Ray, Marks to Prove It, etc) to the more quaint moments, like the sweetheart ditty Toothpaste Kisses, which is met with a rapturous singalong. As with any reunion, it's a shamelessly indulgent trip down memory lane – to the band's heyday, yes, but also to a significant time in British indie music more generally. Special guest Florence Welch joins them on stage for Love You Better and a rowdy performance of Dog Days Are Over. After closing with the punchy fan favourite Pelican, the band hug one another on stage. When they say that this show means the world to them, you can tell they mean it. Updated at 11.33pm BST 11.03pm BST 23:03 Ben Beaumont-Thomas To court us a little more, Olivia's cracked out her Union Jack pants for – paradoxically – All-American Bitch. She's also done the Flaming Lips thing of chucking out loads of massive white balls into the audience. Then it's into the second-best Olivia song: Good 4 U. This song features such a good actorly performance: the proper bunny boiler pressing her face against the double glazing to tell her ex about how she's really totally fine about their breakup. It's cartoonishly heightened and silly – but also there's real venom, and this is a definitely a story with two sides: what's this guy done? Then it's Get Him Back! and a ton of fireworks crackling over a wonderfully overwrought guitar solo. 'This is a dream come true,' she tells this jubilant crowd. 'Goodnight!' But it's not goodnight from us just yet – stick around for a load more reviews, pics and more. Updated at 11.13pm BST 11.00pm BST 23:00 Our photographer Alicia Canter has been down in the pit for Olivia Rodrigo and come back with some killer shots. 10.55pm BST 22:55 Ben Beaumont-Thomas Ooh, it's my fave Olivia song, Deja Vu. It sits right in the heart of the Venn diagram of her songwriting – bit of bruised heartbreak, bit of guitar bite, bit of dream-pop – and it's about such a specific horrifying situation: seeing your ex playing through the same cute things you did together, this time with a new partner. Which has the effect of retroactively cancelling them out for you and making you think: wait, who had they already done them with before me? And it's a dilemma that you might not have come across pre social media, but now romances are played out in public, these new weird horrors seep into culture. It's an example of how Rodrigo, not even out of her teens when she recorded this, is so perceptive about affairs of the heart. Updated at 10.56pm BST 10.47pm BST 22:47 Ben Beaumont-Thomas Jorja Smith is raving up a storm and doing some oo-a oo-a's, while Overmono have hit a relatively lower tempo zone, running through some tech-y reggaeton. And the Prodigy are keeping everything 100. 'We are the noise makers,' Maxim promises. 'Anyone brings as much noise as this? I'll retire … We're waking up the whole of England!' They build up Smack My Bitch Up from its constituent parts, adding gigantic cock-rock riffs on the way to that gleefully obnoxious vocal hook – demurely covered over for the BBC but with the crowd emphatically filling in. More pics from our Jonny here: Updated at 10.49pm BST 10.41pm BST 22:41 Ben Beaumont-Thomas Like Noah Kahan before her, Olivia is doing some shameless courting of us Brits. 'I love England so fucking much,' she says. 'It's bands like the Cure that first got me acquainted with England … I have so many things I love about England, I love pop culture, I love how nobody judges you for having a pint at noon, it's the best. I love English sweets, all the sweets from M&S, Colin the Caterpillar specifically.' Invoking Colin genuinely makes English people giddy. Pray continue. 'True story: I have had three sticky toffee puddings since coming to Glastonbury. And as luck would have it, I love English boys.' It's all teeing up So American, made from the inside jokes she had with an English lover. Updated at 10.45pm BST 10.29pm BST 22:29 Ben Beaumont-Thomas The special guests are coming out. With the Maccabees up on the Park – which I'm basically ignoring because life is too short – it's Florence Welch. AJ Tracey has come back out to join Jorja Smith. And with Olivia Rodrigo, it's Robert Smith from the Cure. 'He is perhaps the best songwriter to come out of England, he is a Glastonbury legend and a personal hero of mine,' she says. They launch into a sweet-natured and extra-melancholy duet of Friday I'm in Love, trading lines back and forth. Then they join together in a wonderful pairing for the climactic chorus, their voices so totally different and yet chiming together. 'The dads chaperoning 13 year old daughters properly doing their nut near us hahahaha', Alexis Petridis texts to me. Robert sticks around for another one: Just Like Heaven, in which he takes the lead on verse one, with Olivia taking verse two – she's more doleful and wary than the more romantic and caution-throwing Robert. The way they bring out new and different shades to these songs is one of the greatest treats of this year's festival. Updated at 10.37pm BST 10.28pm BST 22:28 Ben Beaumont-Thomas Olivia Rodrigo is just 22 years old, by the way – which puts her way up the league table of youngest headliners. Billie Eilish was just 20 when she did her own set in 2022, though as Ash reminded us during their set this weekend, actually it was them who were the very youngest when they were drafted in to replace Steve Winwood in 1997. Updated at 10.48pm BST
Daily Record
34 minutes ago
- Daily Record
Benefit cuts show welfare state is not safe in Labour Government hands
When Keir Starmer became Prime Minister a year ago this week, we were all looking forward to seeing the back of the some of the worst Tory policies. There had been years of attacks on the welfare state and some of the most vulnerable people in our society – whether that was the humiliating assessment processes, the bedroom tax, the two-child cap, the rape clause and much more besides. Twelve months on, people are entitled to wonder exactly what has changed. Following Labour's winter fuel payment debacle – which has caused so much anguish and distress for millions of older people - this week MPs will vote on the UK government's disability cuts bill. This is a bill straight out of the Iain Duncan Smith playbook - a classic case of pretending to help people while actually causing them significant harm. Despite what Labour are claiming, this is not about getting people into work. Disability payments are designed to support people with the extra living costs they face as a result of their disability or their long-term condition – regardless of whether they are in employment. Nor will this ultimately save the public purse money. Restricting living support for people may actually make it harder for them to get into sustainable employment – and increase the pressure on public services, like the NHS. What these cuts will actually do – as many charities and independent experts are warning – is push tens of thousands more people, including thousands of children, into poverty. Following an outcry from his backbenchers, the Prime Minister announced watered down plans last week – but this panicked half u-turn has actually made the cuts even more unjustifiable. Making the cuts apply to new claimants will create a two-tier system, where new claimants get less than existing ones for the same conditions. That is completely unfair. Despite many senior Labour figures such as Sadiq Khan, Andy Burnham, and the Welsh Labour government finding their voice on these cuts, Labour's Leader in Scotland Anas Sarwar has stood beside Keir Starmer all the way. The SNP government will not cut Scotland's Adult Disability Payment and we will reject the UK government's attack on disabled people's rights. SNP MPs will this week vote against Labour's welfare bill – and we are calling on all MPs to do likewise. Fundamentally, issues like this speak to our values as a society. None of us know what will happen to us in our lives – any one of us could require financial help because of a disability or illness. I want people in such a situation to know that they are valued, and that there is a safety net there for them – not to be treate d as some kind of fiscal inconvenience. But it's clear that whether it's Labour or Tories in power, the welfare state is not in safe hands at Westminster. CHILD POVERTY The Big Issue magazine's latest report into child poverty across the UK makes for sobering reading. It found that since the SNP Government introduced child poverty reduction targets in 2017, the number of children in relative poverty in Scotland has fallen by 12%. That is around 21,000 fewer children. In stark contrast, numbers in England and Wales have grown by an astonishing 320,000 over the same period. The SNP Government is putting our money where our mouth is. Scotland is the only part of the UK with a child payment for families on low incomes, and we are the only part of the UK getting rid of the two child cap. That's on top of the work we're doing to expand free school meal provision and access to childcare for working families. But there is so much more to do. Eradicating child poverty is a personal priority for me. It is not only morally the right thing to do, but I also believe that there is no greater long-term investment that we can make in Scotland's future success than by ensuring every young person has the opportunity to thrive. FREE SCHOOL MEALS it was great to visit Springburn Academy last week to unveil the SNP Government's latest expansion to free school meals provision. We know the positive impact that a nutritious meal can have on learning and achievement, and I'm pleased that, from August, an additional 6,000 pupils in S1-S3 across Scotland will benefit from healthy lunches.
